KITH AND KIN!

Kith and Kin jumped off the page of MUHH devotional today. 

Kith was used in Angela's Ashes: A Memoir as a way of describing the feeling of relational loneliness. Even the dog was gone. 

In Scripture, Abraham's life was an example of one who left kith and kin to follow God. 

It's faith at its best. Faith might not know where God's leading will take them but knowing the One who is leading provides the faith and assurance needed to go. 

Kith, without  Kin, is an old English word for friends and neighbors. 

For me, the Kin part reminds me of kin as related by blood in family or by adoption. Kin can also include believers in fellowship---one's church family!  Think "heart" family! 

 

But God, in His love and mercy, has shown me the necessity of connection through the blood of Christ regardless if the mileage separation! I have greatly experienced that KIN in our recent move. 

I would have been dismayed if I had not seen the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Kith and Kin are my land of the living!

SWEETEST GIFT!

Sometimes "bearing with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2) 

can be the sweetest gift one can give;

To a needy loved one,

To a stranger, 

To a friend,

To a spouse of 56 years, 6 months & 5 days.

At our house, I am the recipient as hubby is more than my Uber, chief cook and bottle washer. He gives up his time to care for me.....even searching our town when I have a food hankering.

Think shortbread cookies.

Today, I get to look forward to homemade short bread cookie used to create a "Pink Cadillac" ice cream sandwich with soft-serve vanilla ice cream and homemade jam.Then frozen..... 

A pink and red delight for Valentine's Day.

Pink Cadillac, Voted Best in North Carolina for Ice Cream Sandwiches-YELP

The sweetest gift given by the "Sweetest Gift Giver" in NC.

FAMILY TIES!

Family Ties!

What ties a family together? Special memories. Snafus, Nicknames.

Recently, hubby's nickname had me photographing a license plate of a said nickname. The owner of the car hollered from across the parking lot, "WHAT do you think you are doing?"

My response, "Is this your car?"

His, "It most certainly is!"

So....I tried to explain the family tie. His face softened and he gave me carte blanche permission. He could because He owned the company that bore those initials. PHEW!!!

Our Family Tie story!

Caller ID identifies callers on everyone's cell phones. Scam might appear if caller is not in your contacts.

So...we put all our grands in our contacts list. That way when one calls my hubby, he always knows to answer repeating the letters P P INC. Im sure they are smiling on the other end knowing it's PopPop who is answering the call. Following PPINC, he sometimes adds, "How can I help you." The conversation easily leads into laughter /giggles and ways he can help!

I was thankful for the gentleman's response on Thankful Thursday as I shared with grands.

Finest "Family Ties" might not make sense to others! (Psalm 133:1)

EARS TO HEAR!

Ever had a friend who speaks in italics. Voice inflections control the snippets of thoughts that are important to her. Think "PITHY" in all caps! YOU THINK!.... is what she would say! 

UH, HELLO! REALLY?! That is so-o-o you! IMAGINE THAT! Oops that sounds like me! Pull-eese, I feel like I'm getting surrounded by hyperbole.....then I realize I'm the one doing the talking.

There in lies the problem. Too much talking---NOT enough listening! For me, it's also too much interrupting....way too often! 

Fearfully, it's as if I don't blurt it out right then, I'll forget it. Maybe God wants me to forget it as a way of learning to be patient, to be considerate and to be silent.

Give ear to what God says. Put down your iPhone and truly listen to Him and others. 

Have ears to hear and then respond with words from the heart. 

Addendum--Snippets from Lester Holt's 5/20 Commencement Address at Villanova weere shown on tonight. (NBC's Nightly News) Holt's words were validating to me as he too emphasized,"sometime a little less talking might serve us better...searching for the truth, asking smart questions....listening is short-tripped....listening is more than hearing words;...it's the meaning, the perspective, and the experience of others. Learn to listen with your mouth closed...All that said, we do need your voice. We need your voice to speak for knowledge....we need your voice to speak for justice and truth...civility...and know that not everything requires an instant immediate response. Take a chance; Learn to pause; be silent...... 

CHOOSE: TO ANSWER TRUTHFULLY

Answering truthfully to people doesn't seem hard at all unless I'm trying to "spare" their feelings. But answering myself truthfully is not always so easy. Too often rationalization gets factored in to the equation. 

Tidying the pantry (not alphabetizing, tho that is often very helpful) had me questioning myself today. As I stacked the "NICE" products from a Walgreens sale with the Kroger "Home Sense" cheapies, I thought about being nice to others. 

Then, questions followed. Who are you nice to in your daily walk? 

My first thought was, "I "try" to be nice to everyone who crosses my path---from clerks and sales people to "late" repair men and sanitation workers." Friends are easy to be nice to as are church folks. 

Even people whom I don't know, can elicit a "nice" smile, especially if I see them showing patience & kindness to others. Sometimes, if I don't feel like being nice, I choose to "stuff" my negative emotions and smile anyway.

But.....what happens when I get home? Do I allow earlier negative emotions to roll out and steam roll over loved ones? I think the Dr. Nutcrackers of this world call it displaced anger or displaced aggression.

Do I choose to be nice to hubby when he's grumpy or he's been nice and emptied the dishwasher and I can't find where he's put things? Do I take that "minor" frustration out on him just because earlier in the day an unknown male behind the wheel cut me off and then raised his "not so nice finger "at me?. 

Why is it that family often get the brunt of our stress-induced emotions or our suppressed negative ones just waiting to vent?

Like my pantry shelving I need to choose to "mix" my "nice" in with "home" folks as a matter of course. It just makes sense to be NICE at home.

Love one another. (1 Peter 4:8) I think love includes being nice and "another" includes those folks both outside and inside the home----especially those who have been "patient and bearing with you" (Ephesians 4:2) for almost 48 years!

"Traves-TEAs vs. Nicie-TEAs"

demonstrating all expressions of humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2, ISV)

My maternal grandmother cornered the market on nicieties. Not in finery or elegance, but in politeness. Politeness in every "manner of her life." 
That's it---manners. Good old fashioned manners. Rudeness not allowed.

My introduction to "proper" behavior came from watching Mama Davenport's lifestyle, along with my Emily Post Book of Etiquette, a high school graduation gift. She didn't have a book of etiquette, Mama just had the "Good Book." 

All those godly attributes from the "good book" are the nicieties she practiced every single day. Thinking of others. Putting others first.

Mama's nicieties left everyone in her path feeling, not only acknowledged, but fully appreciated. She didn't share her life in words or "posts." She embraced others in relationship. 

She would have had trouble with "tweeting" her every move and meal on Twitter. She would want to take the time to "ask after" others. 

Maybe that's the traves-TEA of our rampant epidemic of sharing----we don't "ask after" others.

This week's college graduation for a family member had me privy to an interesting comment. Mom, he's so nice. When he takes me to a restaurant, he leaves his iPhone in the car. Isn't that nice?

Nice indeed. A BIG cuppa nicie-TEA! Ah-h-h, it's nice to be nice!

Praying the Psalms

1/21/09

24 hours without a computer and a telephone with a "black hole"--- do you think maybe God wanted me to "be still and know that He is God" as Sara B. prayed??!!

Well, there it is. I open my Jesus Calling book and the first sentence says, I want you to be all mine.

Yesterday was a little of a stretch ----couple of doc visits---lots of plans to be considered---logistical and insurance questions---but God…………………I wonder if Ronnie Stevens realizes what an impact those to words have had on my life since I heard his long ago sermon (Eph. 4:2)---that's about his speed--- 2 words a Sunday (hopefully Ronnie can take a joke)----helps folks like me digest it.

I began the day (before computer needed a new hard drive) with a big blessing. An elder from Allen Bible Church, where son Buddy is a pastor, wrote that he had been praying Psalm 20 for me. I remembered the verse "some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." SW helped me glean insight from that during our H2H teacher training sessions one summer. As the day ended and I was having trouble settling down, Larry read Psalm 20 to me.

Then I asked him to read Psalm 121 to me-----one I memorized (KJV) as a part of my 4^th grade teacher's instruction---now there's a good teacher. It was the psalm that I was given the privilege to recite for the First Evan Women's Team to Mexico on the last night of our mission trip to El Lano (you won't find it on a map) for the Tlapaneco Christian Easter Conference. I can still close my eyes and see those mountains and the sweet faces of all the groups who so beautifully dramatized the verses---"He will not suffer your foot to be moved. (slip) He that keepeth thee will not slumber, Behold He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep…The Lord is thy keeper….He shall preserve thy soul….The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forever more, I had never felt more smack dab in the middle of God's good and perfect will for my life on that trip and that's where I am right now. To Him be the glory!